No, he knows. At this point he is punishing her for disobeying in the first place. Also, she isn’t screaming anymore, but she is still asking to be put down, still talking, and in Trunk’s mind, still disobeying.

It’s all fun and games to be a bully until it escalates to the point of no return. Amanda and Tony have gotten pretty close to that. I am really hoping this brings some kind of change to Amanda and Tony.

And yeah- this scene is rough but it needs to be done. This shit happens and is left untouched and unseen (or done over the top Hollywood style) far too often. Though I am hoping he’s shaking her- I thought he was slamming her against the wall at first.

It’s true fish bones aren’t very substantial, but on the other hand you don’t often see the bones of a fish the size of a person very often. Mainly just the annoying little ones you spit out while eating a salmon, which are extremely thin and flexible.

In a race of sea-people I created, they’re evolved to handle the much higher pressure of deep water by developing denser muscles and bones. So a bone the same size as a human bone would take much more force to break, and their muscles can lift more than a human could. I don’t know how Dave planned out her evolutionary process, but she could have a similar adaptation that would make her more resilient to Truck’s abuse.

Another option might be that her bones are more flexible than a human’s. Some of those tiny bones in fish you can nearly bend double without making them snap. I don’t know how well that would transfer to a larger organism, but perhaps some way her bones form/don’t form (perhaps they’re partly cartilage?) could make them able to withstand a bit more flexing than a human. The only major problem I can find with that possibility is, if her skull is also more flexible, she could get a nasty concussion without cracking the bone. Though, going back to the deep-water pressure stream of thought, it would make sense that even if the majority of her bones were flexible the skull wouldn’t be, as intense pressure on a partly-cartilage skull would probably make it collapse if they got too deep. Definitely not something that’s likely to evolve in a species that lives underwater. I don’t know a whole lot about fish skulls, they seem to be quite thin, but maybe it’s a kind of combination stronger/more flexible material that has several different layers with fluid-filled spaces that can regulate the amount of pressure inside the skull…

Heh, look at me rambling on and on about fish skeletons… now that I’ve got the idea in my head though, I’m really interested in hearing more about how Selkie’s people are formed.

From what I know sea creatures don’t handle the much higher pressure of deep water by developing denser muscles and bones. They do it by simply equalizing their internal pressure to the external pressure.

in my experience this is pretty tame as bullying goes, i think its fine you left it in. unless shaking has a much much more damaging effect on selkie than a normal human. then not so much

im a bit confused with amanda though, it makes sense shed step in and stop truck, but she seams to care more than is realistic for her, shes given off the blinded by hatred vibe all the comic and its only gotten stronger. but she looks like shes ready to cry for selkie, kinda seams off to me is all. tony makes since though since he doesnt really have animosity hes just a jerk. no offense intended dave just wanted to share my take on it ^_^ cant wait for friday

I think she probably went through some bullying by the biological kids of her one-time adoptive parents, which is why they gave her back. Experiencing that kind of rejection from what was supposed to be her new family could have caused her to lash out at others as a way to keep her from becoming too close to people who would eventually leave her, too.

It’s one thing to be the one doing the bullying. It’s another to SEE it done by another person. I’m pretty sure Amanda is capable of hitting Selkie herself in the heat of the moment and being fine with it.

But- seeing someone else do it? Especially when that screech seemed to have cooled off Tony’s and her’s blood lust? That’s different.

Truck is big, violent, not too bright, and at this point entirely out of control. I am not surprised that Tony and Amanda are shocked. Their bullying has consisted of little cruelties that they have been able to justify to themselves as not being so very serious. But this — this goes far beyond what they’ve ever thought of doing. This is real violence. Truck is in a blind rage. Selkie is in actual danger, and it scares them. This is not what is supposed to happen.

As for whether Truck has seen abuse at home — well, maybe he has. Or maybe there’s something in his brain chemistry that’s just not working right. Either way, this is not a very normal kid’s reaction, and that’s why Amanda and Tony are scared.

Dave> The story does as it will and you honor it by letting it flourish, or guiding it along. This instance, you let it go where it will.

Kotih> I agree. It seemed a little odd that Amanda turned a 180 right there. She isn’t much of a follower though so she probably isn’t likely just to go along with Truck just because he’s bigger, meaner, and tougher than her. I dunno… I actually thought that Tony is capable of doing harm to other kids, but not necessarily felt that way about Amanda. Who’s idea was it to put rocks in the snowballs again? I do agree that Tommy’s reacting is off the scale and reveals either a bad home life or an inability to cope in a socially acceptable way in my opinion. I assume he isn’t an orphan? Is that a bad assumption?

Terrifying, but accurate. Been there, been shaken like that. And “just mess with her” is the crux of the problem. What’s “just” to them is “bullying/painful/hurtful” to their “just-messed-with” target.

It’s likely, but not necessary. There’s a flavor of personality in children that wants to be in charge, and will try to impose their will on other kids no matter what. When I tried my hand at bullying (in about the same grade as these guys), the fact that my parents were never abusive or authoritarian didn’t stop me, I just imitated what I’d seen on TV. What stopped me is that I just wasn’t *big* enough to pull it off.

Well, at least Amanda never wanted to physically hurt Selkie, just tease her. Truck seems like he’s gone through some sort of trauma or abuse, with the odd nature of his actions. I feel sorry for this kid, something is definitely not right in his life.

I’m saying the absurdity of his actions on this page and the one prior are very telling. It’s likely he’s been abused, seen someone close to him abused or suffered some sort of trauma. If so, the kid needs help to deal with his psychological problems.

If it’s something that’s messing with him mentally, it may not be something he can control and is a reflex. Just like how soldiers can have a complete mental breakdown if they see or hear something that makes them recall war time. They can’t perceive their reality around them and some recall the events so vividly they think they’re relieving them and can’t tell the difference.

Or how schizophrenics can’t control what they do at times because they’re not in touch with reality or see reality differently than most people. Sometimes people just can’t help it and need some sort of outside source to help them cope with what they’ve gone through.

Without an adult around to moderate, it’s possible Truck just lost his temper. Kids do that. Ever seen “A Christmas Story”? The schoolyard fight was something the author did as a kid, without trauma or psychological problems.

He wasn’t even a terrible person. He just lost his temper with another kid as a kid. That’s what makes abuse so hard to see in children. Acting out from pain/trauma for one kid might look the same as another kid who is simply throwing a tantrum.

I’m just saying it seems very, very likely that he’s suffering from something. Sure, he could just be mean, but to me, that seems highly unlikely given the course of his actions.

And most people have reasons why they do what they do. Sure, some of those reasons are really bad reasons, but some are ones most people just can’t understand.

What I don’t understand is why people are so upset with Truck and not seeing the possibility that he’s a victim. Everyone is too hung up with Selkie being one of the ‘good guys’ and Truck being one of the ‘bad guys’ that they don’t see how completely hypocritical they’re being. It’s not alright to side with one victim just because you like that one better and say the other victim is a bad person.

He might not be a victim at all, sure, but I’m just throwing the idea out there for speculation and pointing out people are way too judgmental of the characters they’ve designated as ‘bad guys’ just because they’ve only seen one side of them.

I have to agree, though the circumstances were quite different and I truly didn’t know better at the time, I nearly killed a boy in preschool. We were outside during recess and I was getting ready to go on the slide. This boy came up as I was getting ready to climb the ladder and he shoved me aside hard enough to make me fall down.

I got so mad that I got up and ran around to the front of the slide and caught him as he came down and started choking him, it took two teachers to pull me off of the boy and he was having serious trouble breathing when they finally did.

At the time I honestly didn’t know that I could have killed him and didn’t even think about how badly I had hurt him. I was just so angry that he had knocked me down to go on the slide a head of me that I simply reacted. It had nothing to do with abuse at home, just pure and simple rage.

Even small children can feel rage and react to it. I was not a bully though, I was just pissed. Once it was explained to me what I could have done I was very upset. Up until that moment I had never encountered death or even the concept of severe injury.

After that I became terrified that I would hurt people so I stopped defending myself for a lot of years. Made me a prime target for bullies, though that boy never came near me again.

I very much doubt he’s a teenager, though, schools usually try to keep the teens apart from the smaller kids (for exactly that reason). I’m just thinking that the ability to articulate the reasoning “I’m not going to put you down because you didn’t do what I said” is usually something not developed until adolescence, unless you’ve heard it somewhere. (I’m not a child development specialist or anything, just spent a good amount of time as a substitute teacher.)

Why, because he’s bigger? Just like someone above assumed he was dumb on absolutely no basis. So he’s just big and stupid because people have deemed him a bully. It’s very possible, though I have no proof either and I admit that, that he’s just a misunderstood and abused kid who’s been crying out for help.

What if Selkie started to bully Amanda? Would you say Amanda deserved it just because she’s bullied Selkie? Amanda was most likely (We have almost assured evidence for this too.) bullied by the kids of her short lived adoptive family who ‘returned’ her like she was unwanted trash. If someone becomes a bully because they’ve been abused and tormented is it right to designate who is exempt and who isn’t?

Like I said, too many people are biased in Selkie and her friend’s favor just because they’ve been designated as the ‘good guys’ and Amanda and her group are designated as the ‘bad guys’ simply because they aren’t Selkie. When in reality, Amanda went through some rough times and is just lashing out because she thinks no one could ever want her. She was RETURNED after being adopted. Not because she was a brat, simply because the ‘real’ children didn’t accept her. She only became a brat afterwards. (Although this is speculation, reading back it seems like it was heavily hinted at. The very least is the other children did not accept her and bullied her.)

Amanda has assuredly been through more trauma than Selkie. Selkie at least understands her mother gave her up for some reason unbeknownst to her. Selkie was adopted by someone who loves her for who she is, regardless of what she is. Selkie has good friends like George and Wu. She lives a pretty happy life at this point and is well taken care of. Amanda on the other hand feels like no one will ever, ever love her and thinks her friends will leave her. She’s distrusting of people because someone who was supposed to love her flat out rejected and returned her as if she was damaged goods. And when she needed adults at the most crucial time to explain to her she is loved and not bad or damaged, she didn’t have it. Now, this isn’t Selkie’s fault at all, but she indirectly caused Amanda to spiral into uncertainty and depression which lead to anger.

Honestly? The adults should have been FAR more concerned with Amanda than Selkie during the time Amanda was returned to the orphanage. Her fragile state of mind should have been their primary concern over anything else. It’s done so much damage to her as you can plainly see. SOMEONE should have been there for her. They could have at least had one or two designated people to help her cope and understand with what had happened to her.

I think that the reason Tony and Amanda look so scared is because, in a way, they care about Selkie. She was an orphan- ‘one of them’. Also, they know what cold does to her, they know about her peculiarities. And I suspect that this will send Selkie into a hibernation of some sorts. I sense a hospital visit in the near future.

The feeling I got was not so much that they were afraid FOR Selkie, but more that they’re afraid OF Truck. It’s one thing to call a person Fish-Face; it’s another to completely flip out, pick up, shake, and scream at them. It can be a scary sight to see something like that happening, no matter who is the victim.

I don’t. I can’t remember how many times I hurt someone in pure self defense and I was the one who got in trouble. After being tormented so much that I finally snapped and lashed out.
Bite marks are proof, and sometimes it doesn’t matter how you explain, you will still take the blame.

As much as he probably deserves it, I hope she doesn’t. As soon as she does, SHE becomes the assailant and the one to get in trouble.

She’s losing her heat packs, and a fair bit of her warm clothing… she is going to be hurting bad if she can’t get back inside soon. The teachers need to see her as the victim in this situation and if she bites him that will be lost.

This is true. And this is why when the bully finally gets stopped by another student it tends to explode. Most teachers just wanted in the past to end the situation as quickly as possible and ignore the deeper waters of a conflict.

The onus of that is on the parent. Kids tried to bully me when I was in grade school, when I defended myself and they tried to punish me for it I called in the cavalry. My mom wasn’t interested in policies rules or any of that nonsense. She wanted FACTS. Who started it? Did my child do more than defend themselves? Where was the teacher? How many witnesses? Did you talk to them? Usually by this time the teacher/principal was wishing that they had the answers to all these questions and wanted my mother out of there with as little damage to the school as possible, because as they often didn’t know this information they realized that punishing me without full knowledge usually brought out the big question… Who in the district office should our lawyer contact?

Oh and I do so hope that when the teachers do arrive, Selkie is able to at least tell them Tony and Amanda were trying to get Truck to put her down. They shouldn’t be tied to his actions (Which he may or may not be able to control.) even if they did instigate the whole thing. Sure, they should get in trouble for the snowball fight, as all the kids should the ‘good guys’ include, but they are not responsible for this and I really hope the teachers can see this or Selkie speaks up for them.

Regardless of whether or not they torment her, it’s not justified to let them take a fall for something they aren’t part of and they want to stop. I would like to think Selkie is a bigger person than that.

Amanda’s reaction makes perfect sense to me. She was lashing out from jealousy earlier, but there’s nothing to be jealous of here.

Also, while she wants to be more valued than Selkie, she might not want to accomplish that by seeing Selkie hurt so much as she wants to just be valued more. Especially since her anger comes from being ignored in favor of Selkie earlier. Selkie getting hurt by someone else doesn’t accomplish this goal the way Amanda beating her at anything would.

I knew a girl who acted like this. She needed to be better than me and would go out of her way to sabotage my classes, but she was upset and concerned if someone else hurt me.

I found out later that when first met me, she made me her standard for failure. Meaning, she felt that as long as she did better than me, she wasn’t failing at life.

For her, the problem was that she first met me right after half my family died. Competing with half-catatonic-from-grief middle school me turned out to be a very different thing than competing with the high-functioning/healthy me she met again in college.

She.. kinda had a nervous breakdown and screamed the whole thought process at me when she realized I was dating more and doing better in classes than she was.

Like Amanda, she felt anything she did was justified because it was part of making sure she was better/worth more (defending her sense of self/ego). Yet, she was still capable of seeing that other people doing the same things (even to me) was wrong.

I still hope Amanda and Tony don’t get in trouble for Truck’s actions. I also hope Selkie is okay after losing so many of her heat packs.

I remember growing up, I had about 5 bullies to deal with at a time. A little circle of pain that felt teaming up against me would be fun. I’d get the total crap beat out of me, one time wielding an eye shut and the teachers just shrugged it off to boys games.

Eventually I got sick of it and beat 2 of them within an inch of their lives, almost tossing 1 out of a 3 story building. Am I proud of it now? No. Was I proud of it then? Oh yes. And it still got declared just boys games. Yes, just boys games. But with that circle, they learned to back down before it got worse for them.

Violence is best avoided, but sometimes you can’t. Sometime Violence is the only answer available to you. The trick is to know when that is.

Very true, Hanna. I got into a couple fights per year in grades 6-8. I never started a fight, but when one did, I didn’t back down, and the other kid usually ended up bleeding (long fingernails, I remember one showing the clawmarks on his chest in class one time). I’d get a bloody nose and visibly not care about it (fragile lining, I got spontaneous bleeds just sitting in class, so no big deal).

I never had any repeat fights, it was always someone new. And the worst bullies I had were smart enough to never get in fights with me.

That’s taking into consideration you don’t assume people can just be inherently bad. Reality is, there are a lot of bad people out there, just for the sake of being bad.

I’ve worked with ex Military who talk about how awesome it was to shoot people in Iraq.

I’ve met one guy who said he’d love to work on border patrol if it meant he could shoot those dirty “spics”

I have met some of the worst, most vile people. Their behavior doesn’t really change, but they will temporarily adjust themselves depending on the circumstances and situation.

Bullying is bad, yeah. We get that, but I am really tired of seeing this new generation where people are encouraging people not to fight back, not to take matters into their own hands, whatever.

Some people are just bad, sometimes it doesn’t need to be because of a family, or some sort of abusive relationship or something. Sometimes people are just bad.

In the situation in which I mentioned being the bully’s bully I remember two cases out right. Both included the same person, a friend of mine named Danny.

Everyone bullied the crap out of Danny, including the teachers, it was amazing this kind of crap was going on. He wasn’t special like Selkie was either, he was just a normal kid.

The first situation, someone was wailing on him with some books, so I walked up behind the kid and bashed his head into the locker and told him if I ever saw him do shit like that again, it’d be much worse.

The second situation was direct bullying in class, where a teacher didn’t even bother to stop it. A kid was making fun of Danny, pushing him to the point of tears, so I popped the kid in the face.

I ended up going to the principal’s office because of it, but I have no regrets.

Children need to also understand that sometimes, there just isn’t someone else you can turn to, you need to learn to be able to take care of yourself and you need to stand up for what’s right.

Okay, I love this comic. However, nearly every single darn storyline involves “Selkie gets in trouble because she’s misunderstood/people are mean.” Surely, there’s more to this plot than that, but we haven’t seen it for the most part.

When has she gotten in trouble? Unless by trouble you mean someone has been mean to her, like when her shirt was stolen. I don’t think she’s ever gotten into trouble with an adult though, at least not anything serious.

I would agree that a bit of a tonal shift away from “Selkie gets attacked” would be a good palette cleanser after this arc. As far as “where is the plot”, I kind of don’t know how to answer that to be honest.

Okay so, while at work today I started thinking about future comics as well as your comic, and just wanted to say that I can see the sense in pursuing options for conflict and tension in the narrative that don’t boil down to “tackle the weird kid”.

For a comic strip, this ongoing story is very intense. From the way Selkie’s character ‘exists’ in the Selkie world to the stories of the bullying of the girl who just happens to be different . . . The emotional roller coaster is a ride no one who reads the strip can get used to. Every time one gets on board the roller coaster there always seems to be a new way the track bends or a far more scary hill. I hate bullies. This Tommy the Truck character is coming across as a psychopath and as hard as it is to admit it, sometimes even the young ones can’t be saved. I just hope Selkie isn’t too badly injured in the strips that you’ve committed to.

It’s the only real appearance this character has made aside from a tactless comment about beating the other team. I’m pretty sure you can’t label anyone a psychopath without a sustained pattern of behavior..

Temper control issues, sure. A bully? Of course, but suggesting he’s impossible to save is taking it pretty far..

I grew up the biggest kid in the class. Good head taller than most of the others, and even the ones close in height weren’t as big/heavy/wide. A lot like Truck. Thing is, I was the bullied instead of the bully. Quiet kid who’d read during recess, when the books weren’t snatched out of my hands and the kids run away with it because I was too slow to keep up.

You know, they come down HARDER on us big kids. Our whole life we’re seen and made to act as older, smarter or at least wiser than the kids our age. “You know better” “You’re bigger, you should be gentler” “You’re more grown up, you should behave that way.”.

To be fair, Truck deserves what’s coming to him, but still. Kids suck.

It was the same with me, I was always the biggest kid in my class. (Topped out at 6’4″ in grade 9, the volleyball coach loved me) And I had to put up with a lot of bullying as well. Fortunately I was friends with the principal and went to him about the two worst kids and he had a novel solution.

First he went and pulled the two kids out of class and brought all three of us to the teachers lounge. Then he proceeded to tell the kids he thought they were crazy and what did they think was eventually going to happen if they kept harassing me. Finally he told them in no uncertain terms that when I finally snapped and killed them he would make sure that I would not get in trouble.

The looks on their faces were priceless. After they left he of course asked me not to actually do anything serious to them, and I replied that I didn’t think I would have to do anything at all after that, and I was right 🙂

And to clarify, my whole point is, no one should be judged when you don’t know all the circumstances. Putting these children into categories, the good kids and the bad kids, is very, very wrong. At the very least, all of the children who have been showed to bully excessively have psychological issues of some sort. Specifically Amanda and Heather so far. They have reasons why they do what they do. It’s from trauma, fear and not understanding.

Is it right Selkie is bullied? No, of course not. Is it right to call Amanda and Heather horrible children for it? Hell no it’s not right and people should try to understand them a little more. Children like this need help. They have issues they can’t control and saying they need to be severely punished to the point of ‘getting their ass kicked’ is sick. They need counseling and proper ways to cope. These kids are like, what, 11? 11 year old kids need to be beaten to show them what’s right and wrong? Great parenting right there. The adults are the ones at fault here, not the children.

All I’m trying to say is, Amanda, Heather and even Truck need to be given a proper chance and are quite possibly more traumatized and in need than Selkie is. Selkie seemed like a loner and aggressive when she was first introduced. Hell, she has a pretty foul mouth in general and is very much a smartass. She did it because she was lashing out and upset with the people around her. Why is it alright if she does it, but anyone else who does it is a mortal sin?

So don’t condemn someone before you even know what’s fully going on. At least wait until we know for a fact that what they’re doing is purely malicious intent and not just fear and traumatic events overtaking them.

These kids are only like… eight, but still. Word. I agree with pretty much everything I’ve seen you say so far.

I’m around little eight-year-olds, and kids around that age, all the time. They know right from wrong. They also get extremely pissed and do things they know are wrong. Because they’re kids. They’re impulsive, irrational, and still learning how to control themselves. The victims standing up for themselves is good, kids standing up for each-other is also good, but an adult coming in and backing them up in it (and punishing the aggressors/escalators) is best.

No matter what grudges or problems or ways of self-justifying bullying actions a kid has, they have to be shown that certain behavior (ESPECIALLY violent behavior) will not be tolerated. I’m not saying don’t help the kid if he’s having a tough time himself.. after all, he’s just a kid, and he needs it. But letting Tommy get by with shaking his classmates around and intimidating them just because he has it rough will only make things worse for him in the long run by enabling his destructive behavior.

Letting a kid grow up with the mentality that it’s okay to lash out at others, even hurt them, when he’s having a hard time is more cruel than punishing his behavior. Set that boy straight! Give him a sit-down later if he needs it, but don’t let violent actions go without consequence.

There is something I am kind of curious about, that I am not sure the author has talked about yet. I am hoping they care to comment on it.

In the past when people’s own physical condition warrants a medical reason to move, doctors will suggest it. It’s not that uncommon.

Considering that you have already alluded to the fact Selkie is also under the watch of the government (or something), I am honestly kind of surprised they didn’t re-locate Selkie to a location with an environment more suited to her needs.

If her species is unique, or endangered or under federal protection, generally they’d do whatever it takes to make sure of her survivability.

I’m curious if it has something to do with the proximity to where her people come from. Her mom has to be close enough to have chosen THAT orphanage to give up Selkie at. Is it possible that the gov is simply trying to contain the oddities to a small area, rather than having Selkie’oids running about in front of curious eyes all over the country?

Jarman I am gonna be straight with you, you’ve caught me in a pretty sizeable plot hole. I could probably rationalize a reason for this but (A) I feel it risks revealing things about the government overwatch that are better saved for later in the story and (B) I don’t… HAVE a rationale for this right at the moment that isn’t a hastily thrown-together ball of fluff and wire.

By all means, I am curious and I am a little surprised it hasn’t been brought up before.

I mean, as a species, Selkie’s people may have very well migrated during colder weather like geese, or maybe they hibernated under the water like so many aquatic and amphibious animals. Of course that doesn’t take into account modern living of her people.